Just found this on Yahoo news, found it quite amusing....
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Two U.S. car thieves failed to make their getaway in a car they had just stolen because they couldn't figure out how to use its manual transmission, a witness said on Wednesday.
The teenagers armed with a gun approached a man outside a pizza restaurant in Marietta, Georgia, late on Monday. They stole his wallet and the keys to his Honda Accord, got into the car but couldn't make it start because it had stick shift, according to John Williamson, 18, a restaurant employee.
"The kid was just sitting in the car trying to start it but he had no idea what to do. He looked dumbfounded. The only thing he had going was the radio," said Williamson who witnessed the scene.
While the thief was trying to start the car, restaurant employees called the police who arrived and caught the teenagers as they tried to escape into nearby woods.
Unlike many parts of the world, the majority of cars in the United States are automatic and many drivers are unused to driving "stick shift" vehicles, in which a clutch pedal must be depressed to change gear.
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Pricing is dependent on market conditions, not production costs - in the US where autoboxes are standard, a manual costs extra unlike Europe where a manual is (usually) cheaper.
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I worked for a major maufacturer and spent some time in the States and there were test drivers working for us that did not know how to drive a manual-in the 80's,approx 95% of cars sold in the US were auto; Europe at that time was roughly the opposite tho' not quite such a high percentage.
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Reminds me of that story (urban myth?) of the elderly American woman who picked up a hire car at Heathrow, then tried to drive all the way to Leicester (or somewhere) in second gear, because she had never driven a manual before...
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In 'The Graduate' (approx 1967), when Mrs Robinson tells the 'hero' she will drive his Alfa Duetto Spider, the first thing he asks is 'Can you work a foreign shift?'
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Mike,
What a true petrol head's post (if you don't mind me saying !) you seem unsure about the exact year of an iconic film's date (neither am I) or the name of the leading character but you know the make and model of the other star of the film. You've made me want the DVD now...
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Years ago a friend had a Wolesley Six Auto (the land crab variety). His mother took it out one day and drove for about 30 miles and on her return complained that she couldn't get it to go very fast. After some discussion it transpired that she had selected the first gear hold (I seem to recall you could hold any of the three gears) instread of 'D'.
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Where was the gear shift on these, was it dashmounted - I have some vague memory that it was.
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Pugugly:
1 - Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft - but I'm not a film buff!
2 - Yes, it was dashboard mounted, my father had the Austin 2200 version - it was the car that converted me to automatics.
I guess I am a petrolhead but I've never come out of the closet...
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Ah well £4.95 from a well known site and the disc's mine !
Should be worth it for the music and the Alfa !
PU without his Mod Hard Hat on !
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Its 1967, its a red 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 Duetto, its got the most sexy and desireable piece of acting seen in any film by Anne Bancroft.
Benjamin: Where did you do it?
Mrs. Robinson: In his car.
Benjamin: What kind of car was it?
Mrs. Robinson: Come on now.
Benjamin: No, I really want to know.
Mrs. Robinson: A Ford.
Benjamin: G*******, that's great. So old Elaine Robinson got started in a Ford.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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i still cant get my head round the fact that the shift stick was on the dash or even a three on a tree steering column.
I am sure i remember these as being on the floor with a chrome cover
can anyone else confirm or deny .........please?
picture would be nice as ive trawled the web and cant find one?
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I recall it poking out of the dash on the benchseat version c/w brolley type handbrake. The friend who had it is still around, I'm going to e-mail him.
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The 'story' says they couldn't start it. So what's that got to do with the transmission type?
It then goes on to say they didn't know about using the clutch to change gear. But they hadn't even got it started. Don't believe everything you read, I think.
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most likely you have to push the clutch down prior to it starting
its funny to watch people who dont know this scratching their heads
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On most current US autos you need to put your foot on the brake.
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its funny to watch people who dont know this scratching their heads
>>
The same scratching of heads with early DS Citoens with a brake button.
IIRC it is the even more head scratching with early ID Citroens.
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My company often has people over from the US and I've asked a couple of them how they get on with manual shift and they're bemused that I should think it's a problem.
I can imagine that a youngster, possibly with limited experience of all things worldly, might struggle - and an unusual arrangement like having to depress the clutch before starting would fool many people - but I don't believe it's generally the case that Americans can't drive manual's.
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My company often has people over from the US and I've asked a couple of them how they get on with manual shift and they're bemused that I should think it's a problem.
they probably think you're talking about working in a factory... and are just politely smiling at your crazy British humour?..........:-)
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Interesting Bill, I'd always assumed only particularly car-interested yanks would be able to drive a manual...thanks for straightening that assumption out!
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They used to be "three by your knee",then"four on the floor";what do they call five and six speed boxes.Having said that most pre-war cars were manuals,tho' frequently column change.
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They need little rhymes just to remember how many gears their car has? Strange people. ;o)
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Meh. I changed from a manual to an automatic last week and don't regret it at all. Suits my lazy driving style no end, and there's a flippy shifter for when you want to do the job by hand.
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Had a 'four on the tree' Saab 96 - very easy to drive once you were used to it. Three would have rhymed better.
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Pricing is dependent on market conditions not production costs - in the US where autoboxes are standard a manual costs extra unlike Europe where a manual is (usually) cheaper.
That is not so for most cars now.
All the lower end of the market cars - Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio even up to Sonata size cars - have 'stick shift' as standard and charge extra for Auto gearbox.
Example Sonata
Transmissions
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
STD STD
Transmission: Elect. 4-Spd Auto w/SHIFTRONIC & OD
$1,200 $1,134
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"Unlike many parts of the world, the majority of cars in the United States are automatic"
It's been reported that the majority of new cars sold in UK this year will be automatics.
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Snipquote - PUIt's been reported that the majority of new cars sold in UK this year will be automatics.
Its been reported(many times) that Elvis Presley is still alive.
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It's also been reported that the majority of cars sold in the UK this year will be diesels;as diesel auto's are not that common-something does not compute!!
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I wonder what the number is?
I have no idea, but my guess is that it's less than 20%.
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First car I hired in the US was a big heap.. couldn't find how to engage drive until somebody showed me the dash-mounted lev'er. So in my case I guess it cuts both ways...
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Seems like this kid had never seen a manual box - click on windscreen with notice on.
livedump.com/funny/go-21128/Crashing_Dad_s_New_Mustang.html
Made non-clickable due to the potentially adult content of this linked site, usual disclaimers should have been posted by the poster. - PU
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I often visit a US-based forum for Volvo enthusiasts. They all seem completely conversant with manual boxes, although they call them "trannies" not gearboxes.
In the 1960s I remember an American friend of my mother's saying that Americans did not understand the word car - they universally called them automobiles. "Cars" were horse-drawn wagons driven by hill-billies in old films.
Now they all seem to have learned to call their motors "cars". Just like us, really, aren't they, the cousins?
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Yanks better be careful asking where they can find a "trannie" specialist while in the UK.
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